Thirteen Forgotten Worlds (Seam Wardens Book 1)

by Brant Williams

  I got my answer when the triceratops I had been watching let out a low moan and lowered its head. It changed in color from a mix of blue and black to a dark red – almost maroon. The other triceratops reacted almost instantly, turning almost in unison to face the same direction, their colors all changing to red.

  Reid pulled back the focus on his suit cameras, and we saw what at first I thought was a T-rex running toward the herd. The creature looked very much like a typical tyrannosaur but with a few notable differences. First, its arms were much bigger than a T-Rex’s. Instead of the little, stubby arms, this creature had large, powerful arms that looked strong enough to crush a bus.

  The second difference was that it appeared to be camouflaged. Its skin was a mottled green that blended in very well with the plants and trees in the valley. That seemed strange to me. Alpha predators weren’t usually camouflaged. That was the survival mechanism of prey, not predators.

  “This is something you won’t get to see every day,” Reid said. “Let’s get a closer look.”

  He ran toward the herd of triceratops stopping a hundred yards away so as not to disrupt what was happening.

  The dinosaur approached the armored triceratops with caution. It was clearly the predator, and could no doubt take on a single triceratops, but attacking a group of them was a different story.

  The dinosaur darted in and probed the defenses of the unified Triceratops herd, but was repulsed every time. After having its leg sliced by a massive triceratops horn, the dinosaur finally gave up and began skulking away.

  Until it saw us.

  Alone, and significantly smaller than the triceratops, we looked like much easier prey. The dinosaur charged us, arms outstretched and jaws opened wide.

  My first reaction was panic. This still felt very much like I was there in person. As it approached, I realized that this dinosaur was enormous and obviously ravenous. My pulse skyrocketed as fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. It was only the feel of Alexa by my side that kept me from running for cover.

  “Don’t worry,” Reid said. “We’ve dealt with these before. They are big and strong, but not very agile or bright.”

  Reid waited until the dinosaur was almost on us and leaped out of the way. The dinosaur charged past, claws digging into the ground as it tried to slow down and change direction.

  "I don't want to hurt it if possible, so I am going to attempt to outrun it." Reid started running, and the scenery began to fly by in a blur causing me to feel a bit of motion sickness. Apparently, the second skins could travel much faster than we had seen up to now.

  Reid ran away from the seam entrance and into the valley below. He ran down a steep drop taking huge leaps as he crossed over the rough terrain. Within a few moments, the dinosaur was left behind and not long after that was completely out of sight.

  We continued running for several more minutes. I noticed that the ground around us slowly changed. What had been soft grass gave way to something much lighter in color and the thump of the second skin’s stride changed to the crunch of what sounded like running on gravel.

  Reid slowed down and came to a stop.

  Large chunks of thin, broken up rocks littered the ground around us. A massive rock stood in front of us looking like a small mountain in the middle of this strange valley full of broken rocks.

  “Why is he stopping?” I whispered to Alexa.

  The mountain stood up.

  “Oh, no…” Reid said. I heard something in his voice I had never heard from him before – fear. He turned around and sprinted back the direction we came from.

  It was not a mountain.

  A massive creature, larger than anything I had ever believed could exist, slowly rose to its feet. It stood on two hind legs with six long, tentacle-like arms. Its head was that of a predator with eyes facing forward and a mouth full of long, sharp teeth. The creature towered above us, hundreds of feet tall, bigger than any living creature had a right to be.

  “Gorasaur,” said Alexa. Her eyes were wide, and I could see the terror in them. She reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it in a death grip.

  I held on, torn between the fear of this monster and what it would do to Reid and the unexpectedly exciting sensation of Alexa holding my hand.

  The Gorasaur chased after Reid, its long stride chewing up the distance. The second skin seemed to have topped out on its speed, and the Gorasaur was getting closer.

  Reid sped through the valley, back the way he had come. He ran past the dinosaur we had been running away from. It gave a comical half turn to follow us before we left it out of sight.

  “Maybe the Gorasaur will stop to eat it," I whispered to Alexa. Everyone was holding their breath, and by some unconscious, collective decision no one in the room made any noise as if we were worried it might distract Reid.

  "Not likely," Alexa whispered back. "We invaded its nest. I don't think this thing is going to stop until it catches Reid."

  At the rate the creature was gaining, getting caught seemed like a very realistic possibility. “And what happens to Reid if he gets caught?”

  “It depends. If the second skin is damaged or disabled, he can just pull out his consciousness and abandon it. If the connection is broken involuntarily – like from being crushed by a massive Gorasaur, he could potentially have his consciousness destroyed forever. It’s only happened a few times in all of Seam Warden history, but this Gorasaur is as good a possibility as I have seen.”

  “Why doesn’t he just bail out now?” I asked. “Then he can connect back later when it's safe?”

  “It doesn’t work that way. If he does that, the second skin is stuck there until we can send someone back to salvage whatever might be left of it. You have to be close to initiate a connection. Besides, it takes almost a minute to safely disconnect from a second skin. The Gorasaur would smash him before he could disconnect.”

  So, his best choice was to run. And run he did. Reid continued running as fast as he could, the scenery a blur as the cameras tried to keep up with his speed.

  With each passing second, the Gorasaur drew closer, the pounding of its massive footsteps reverberating throughout the observation room.

  We could see the forest where the Seam was up ahead. Reid ran straight toward it, leaping over bushes, fallen trees, and any other obstacles that got in his way.

  The Gorasaur was now less than fifty yards behind and still gaining. Up ahead, the flickering light of the Seam was visible through the trees. Reid weaved through the vegetation having to slow down to navigate the thick woods. The Gorasaur had no such problem. It simply barreled through the woods kicking over trees like the world's ugliest toddler knocking down building block towers.

  “This is SS012,” said Reid, his voice surprisingly calm, “requesting an emergency barrier removal for Primor. This is a Code Black. I repeat, this is a Code Black.”

  Before I had time to ask what a Code Black was, Reid had dashed through the Seam and crashed back into our world. I watched as the semi-transparent barrier slammed back down mere seconds after he was through. Behind him, the Gorasaur charged forward, head down, ready to smash through anything in its way.

  The Gorasaur hit the barrier but somehow kept moving. I watched, both fascinated and disgusted as the portal sliced into the Gorasaur’s skull and we could see flesh and bone exposed. The beast's head was tough, but the portal was literally immovable, and the Gorasaur’s momentum pushed the portal into its skull.

  Luckily for the Gorasaur, it was so massively large that cutting a furrow into its skull the depth of the portal wasn’t fatal. At least not immediately. The creature pulled away from the portal, a gaping wound visible along its skull. Chunks of splintered bone traced a large line from the top of its head down, extending down at least twenty feet.

  Behind the immovable and sound-proof barrier, the creature made a silent roar of anger and pain, then stomped off back into the depths of Primor.

  9

  Enhancing Our Education


  The near-death encounter didn’t dampen Reid’s enthusiasm for his job. If anything it made him more focused and determined.

  Over the next several weeks, Reid and Abby continued to stuff our heads full of knowledge and skills. We were either in classes or practice sessions twelve hours each day, and generally had a couple of hours of homework we needed to complete each night.

  Being a Seam Warden Cadet was not good for one’s social life.

  Not that I had ever had much of a social life, or knew what I would do if the opportunity ever arose. Sports and running always took up so much of my life that I never really had much time for anything else.

  But if I was completely honest, that was only partially true. I probably could have made time, but after Amy and I broke up, I lost the desire to even make the effort. It all seemed pointless. What were the odds of developing a lasting relationship with anyone I started dating in high school? We would probably go to different colleges, and I had no desire to go through the futility of maintaining a long-distance relationship. After all, I had seen just how well that had worked out for Amy and me.

  But things were slightly different now. I was very attracted to Alexa, and that continued to grow each day as the memories of my past came back.

  But opportunities to get to know her as she was now were few and far between. It seemed like whatever table she was eating at was already full by the time I got my food and was ready to sit down. I wasn't sure if she was doing that on purpose, or if she was just everyone's favorite person to sit with.

  Either way, the end result was that I had made very little headway in getting to know her and felt like there was a bit of a wall between us.

  Yep, I was a smooth operator who knew how to charm the ladies, all right.

  A few weeks after the Primor incident, instead of weapons training, Reid and Abby gathered us all together into the Cadet training room for a special class. Half of the room had been set up like a cross between a skate park and a giant obstacle course. There were large stone blocks, ramps, sets of metal bars, and steep inclines that led up to ledges fifteen feet or more in the air. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew I wanted to try it.

  I pulled my eyes away from the giant playground and realized that Reid and Abby were not alone. A strange man stood by them with his arms clasped behind his back. He was tall – like professional basketball player tall. It was hard to tell exactly, but I guessed he was close to seven feet.

  Caleb leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “That’s the guy with the sword who killed all those Edelgrim.”

  I took a closer look at the man. He was in his late forties or early fifties. His black hair was streaked with gray. He wore it much longer than any of the other Seam Wardens I had seen before and pulled it back into a ponytail tied with a piece of leather. His brilliant blue eyes were so bright they almost looked fake.

  He wore the typical Seam Warden outfit, but without the pocketed tactical vest. Instead, he wore a long, hooded cloak with wide sleeves that made him look like a half-hearted Jedi Knight cosplayer.

  After a moment, I became acutely aware that he was watching me. I met his gaze and expected him to look away once he realized I had caught him staring, but he didn’t blink. His only reaction was a small smile that twisted up the corners of his mouth.

  After that uncomfortable moment, I realized this was a staring contest I was never going to win, so I was glad when Abby called us to attention and gave me something else to look at.

  “Today, we are going to talk about enhancers,” said Abby. “We’ve talked about them a little bit in passing, but now we’re going to dive into the topic in depth.”

  Abby paced back and forth as she talked, her hands clasped behind her back. "Enhancers can help you in one of three ways: increased strength, increased speed, and increased healing ability. A single enhancer can increase any one of these factors at a time. But it can only increase a single factor at any given moment. So, if someone with a single enhancer is injured and needs healing, they can't have extra speed or strength while the healing is happening. If they need the speed to get out, they would have to sacrifice the healing ability until they no longer needed the speed.

  “Many Seam Wardens can take on two enhancers which give them the ability to either double a single factor or increase two of the three factors at a time. They can have increased speed and strength or increased speed and healing. And, speaking from experience, that is a useful combination when you discover yourself in a dangerous situation.

  “A handful of Seam Wardens throughout history have been able to take on three enhancers, but that is very rare.”

  Zachary raised his hand and waited for Abby to call on him. “Why only a handful?”

  "We're not sure why some people can take on multiple enhancers and others can't," Abby said. "You typically ingest them one at a time until it makes you sick. We've learned the hard way that taking on more enhancers after that point can be very dangerous."

  "Abby and I both have two enhancers," said Reid. "After taking our second, we both experienced a period of nausea and weakness that let us know we had reached our limits. We honestly don't fully understand how they work, but we do know how to use them. No one really understands them except for the Druids of Uchima, and possibly Elias here.” Reid gestured toward the tall man in the cloak.

  Elias nodded slowly.

  “Elias has six enhancers,” said Reid. “That is twice the amount of any other Seam Warden on record. He is also the only one that the Druids have taught their skills to, so he is somewhat of an exception to the rules when it comes to what you can expect when you take on enhancers.”

  “Reid and I are more typical,” Abby said. “We’ve tracked the number of enhancers that individuals can take and the data shows that typically about a third of Seam Wardens take on a single enhancer and two-thirds can take on two enhancers. There are a few outliers that can take three, but they are few and far between."

  Reid clapped his hands together excitedly. "Let's go to the obstacle course and give them a demonstration of what we can do with two enhancers."

  In the blink of an eye, Reid practically flew over to the other side of the training room and jumped ten feet into the air onto a platform.

  He then leaped twenty feet through the air to catch hold of one of the bars on what looked like a set of giant monkey bars. He quickly swung through them and landed in front of a huge rock. He then proceeded to pick up the massive rock. It must have weighed at least five hundred pounds.

  The rest of us ran over to get a better look at what Reid was doing. Abby joined Reid, and the two of them raced around the training room leaping, tumbling, and playing like over-sized, super-fast kids on a giant's playground.

  After a few minutes of demonstration, they finally stopped and stood back in front of us, laughing, and hardly even out of breath.

  “So, you can clearly see the speed and strength benefits of having enhancers,” Reid said. “I won’t lie, it’s pretty awesome. They certainly make our jobs easier." He pulled out a knife from a vest pocket. "But beyond speed and strength, the enhancers can help with healing as well." He slid the knife against the palm of his hand. Bright red blood welled out of the gash, and a flap of skin opened up showing just how deeply he had cut himself.

  I took an involuntary step back. That cut looked like it practically hit bone. It must have severed tendons and nerves. Reid must have been pretty confident in the healing ability of his enhancer to do that.

  Reid grimaced and looked ruefully at Abby, who shook her head. She took his hand and examined the cut, gently probing it and pulling back the flap to reveal that he had indeed hit bone.

  “Sweetheart, I think you may have gotten a bit carried away with the demonstration,” she said.

  “You think?” Reid said and flinched as she continued to prod the open wound.

  Abby pressed the wound closed and held it tightly with her hand.

  “Shouldn’t someone call a doctor?” as
ked Mariah. Which was exactly the question I had been thinking. Healing enhancement or not, that looked like it was going to need some stitches. At the very least it needed some Neosporin and a Band-Aid.

  Abby opened up her hand and looked at Reid's wound again. "I don't think that's going to be necessary." She smiled, and Reid pulled his hand out from hers holding it palm forward toward us.

  There was no visible cut.

  Reid and Abby smiled mischievously.

  I groaned. It had been a setup. I couldn't believe I had fallen for an object lesson. I always saw them a mile away and knew the point before they finished. I hadn't been surprised like that since elementary school.

  Reid had known exactly what he was doing and hadn’t been in any danger. I should have known that, but when Abby had put on the concerned act, I totally fell for it.

  Nicely played.

  “As you can see, even a deep gash like this can heal in less than a minute with a double dose of enhancement.” Reid turned his palm toward him and examined his hand again. “It doesn’t, however, take away the pain of the injury. I won’t lie, that hurt like you wouldn’t believe. But the enhancers will help you not get killed so easily. Which in our line of work is a huge advantage.”

  “You may be asking yourselves,” Abby said, “why we take you on early morning runs every day if you’re simply going to get an enhancer to give you super speed. What’s the point, right?”

  “Because you enjoy watching us suffer?” Zachary asked. That got a grin from Abby and laughter from the other cadets. Over the last few weeks, he had broken out of his polite shell and displayed a level of sarcasm that quite possibly surpassed my own.

  “That certainly is part of it,” Abby said. She didn’t even miss a beat. “I do love watching cadets squirm. That’s why I took this position, you know – the perks of the job.”

  That got even more laughs.